The operations director of IntaPeople on the challenges of staying at the forefront in a rapidly changing sector

Phil Handley, operations director at IntaPeople, the Cardiff-based specialist IT recruitment agency, looks back over the last 20 years and the risk his fledgling company then faced.

He recalls a telephone conversation with a prospective client and the response he received: “If you are still here in three months time call me again. Companies like yours never last long.”

It was to be the challenge he needed to succeed – what he describes as the red rag to a bull.

“I thought, if I do nothing else in life I’ll call him in three months,” he said.

Then he adds with unconcealed pride: ”Twenty years later we are still here and history has been kind. At that time it was difficult to establish the business but we did, and although there are still ongoing issues and day to day pains I now sleep better. “

Handley’s IntaPeople specialises in IT and white collar recruitment, acting for clients who have urgent technology projects that involve the latest IT technology.

Those recruited will be specialist app and web developers required by companies who are unable to recruit people with such skills, as he explained: “We have a team of 36 people here that talk every day to IT specialists who may be looking for another employment opportunity.

“We introduce that IT specialist to a company looking for their skill set. So our value and focus lies in us knowing who is available then introducing the right candidate to that particular company.”

Wales, Handley explained, is fertile recruiting territory with a multitude of highly skilled IT professionals.

The issue he and others in the industry face is the pace at which technology moves, making it difficult to keep up.

“Universities, when they actually teach their course on a syllabus, that may have been approved 12 months before that course begins,” he said.

“By the time that course is delivered technology has moved on and the course is out of date. Speed is the very nature of this beast.”

IntaPeople is a Cardiff-focussed company and under Handley’s direction will remain that way.

Currently the economy here is buoyant and despite the recent recession Intapeople, he explains, enjoyed its best year in 2013 and 2014 will, he predicts, be better with turnover in excess of £6m.

He said: “We have many clients who are optimistic about the future and requesting we source and supply the latest developers and security specialists, along with cloud and data experts, which shows our clients are optimistic.”

He added: “The feelgood factor reveals itself in our business by the number of clients who call us and ask for assistance. Many are from companies that have relocated to Wales.

“I recall that a decade ago there was a drive to outsource technological development to Asia, but due to language barriers and cultural issues we are seeing many of those clients bringing what was outsourced work back and growing their workforce here.”

On the role played by the Welsh Government in economic development Handley is ambivalent.

His company’s hasn’t needed assistance, a state born out of the management strategy adopted.

Explaining this he said: “We are an organic business and our mindset is if we don’t have the cash to buy something then we don’t buy it. There are grants available but our main expense is salaries and there hasn’t been assistance with that.

“So we look for driven, hardworking recruitment consultants and train them ourselves at our own expense.”

Running in tandem with his thoughts on government assistance is a view of the current attitude of banks toward lending. It’s a case of speak as you find.

“Our bank has been good over the years,” he said.

“In the early days we did have funding issues. As a company we place freelance contract staff and pay them before our client pays us. Consequently there is a funding gap to fill and that’s done by invoice factoring from the bank.

“After 20 years of success we haven’t called on the bank in relation to financial issues. In turn they have been good to us, funding that gap between contractor salary and client payment.”

Where, then, does the future lie for this specialist recruitment company, and what are the commercial trends that will carry it forward it to the next level?

This, Handley said with conviction, lies in the development of handheld technology such as the smart phone or tablet which now form part of everyday life.

“If you take a tablet or smart phone from the average teenager he or she wouldn’t know how to communicate,” he said.

“What we have seen is a shift in technology over the last 10 years and people now cannot survive without it. Where it will go in the future is anyone guess. We can presume the handheld device will become a way of life and we are at the centre of that technological revolution.”

To keep it there involves moving with the times, as he explained: “At the outset I was looking for people with skills for programmes that are no longer in demand. Now we look for web and app developers and cloud specialists, who use this technology and know what’s coming next.”

Which leads him to reflect on the relationship between his company and the higher education sector.

Returning to a point made earlier on the speed of technological advance, he believes in the need for a university dedicated to training graduates in the latest computer software and hardware technologies.

So far his attempts to form closer links with our universities has failed.

“Recruitment companies haven’t had the greatest success in forming form closer links to university departments,” he said.

“Requests to speak to undergraduates haven’t been well received and there seems to be a barrier between the universities and recruitment companies who see us as a necessary evil. It might be suspicion or red tape but it should be a simple process to speak to students about what goes on in the IT private sector.”

Having won the Fast Growth 50 Award in 2000 and been finalists in 2008, 2009 and 2010, Handley is confident the future is set fair for continued year on year growth in both staff and turnover.

His philosophy is a simple one: “It’s all about customer relations and the need to win new clients. Eighty-two per cent of our business is repeat business. Only rarely do we lose a client and we try to give the client what they need by helping their business grow, which means they’ll return to us for more staff.

“As long as we deliver that and are transparent in our dealings we will succeed.

“Currently we engage 90 freelance contractors who work for us while running their own businesses in addition to our permanent staff.”

Finally his thoughts focus on the city region debate and the prospects it affords his business.

Speaking as someone brought up in Maesteg and who has seen at first hand the economic impact caused by the loss of heavy industry, he said: “ If the city region brings opportunities to Cardiff, Newport and the Valleys I’m in favour of it. It will, I think, prove a factor in attracting companies to an area which has a large pool of skilled and adaptable people.“

As for IntaPeople, the business is staying in Cardiff and will continue to offer its service to those working at home and abroad.

Those working overseas and wanting to return home are people with whom Handley has a certain affinity.

He said: “Having spent many years working in Europe I wanted to get across the message that if you want to get home every evening, allow us to work with you and canvas clients to bring this about.

“Working in South Wales meant I could have quality of life. That’s what IntaPeople is about, enhancing the quality of life for those who want to live and work in Wales.”

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